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Updated: May 12, 2025
Down by the river's bank they unpacked their luncheon, a royal feast, for Madame Bretton had sent enough food for both hungry boys. They were in jubilant spirits. "If I had a line with some silk-gut on it I might perhaps land a trout," said Pierre mischievously. Henri shook his head. "There are no fish in this stream, because the waste from the mill flows into it.
Then the yellowish gum is dried in a shady place and bleached white by means of sulphur fumes. You can see that it is expensive because so many silkworms must be sacrificed, and because the thread produced is so small. Why, I have read that it takes as many as twenty or thirty thousand strings to make a pound." Pierre gasped. "No wonder I don't use silk-gut on my fish-line!" he exclaimed.
"You are not an expert fisherman then, Pierre," he answered. "Still, one can land a very good fish with a pole and string; I have done it scores of times. But professional fishermen have a bit of silk-gut to connect the hook with the line. Not only is it very strong, but it is invisible when under water.
But some day in the spring, when I have a holiday, I can show you a brook up in the hills where you can catch as many trout as you like silk-gut or no silk-gut," he said. "There are fishing-holes at Bellerivre, too," retorted Pierre proudly. "Why should you not make the next visit? You could then see my mother and my sister Marie; and I could show you our silk-house."
Most of the silk-gut is made in Italy or Spain, the Spaniards surpassing all others at manufacturing it. Valencia is the chief centre for the industry." "And how is it made? Spun from silk fibres?" "Not at all. You remember how, before the silkworm begins to spin, the viscid secretion is stored in the two long ducts at each side of the little creature's body.
"And the thread for weaving sarsnet or sateen, taffeta, satin, and velvet, as well as providing the fibres for sewing-silk is not all the little caterpillar gives, either. Had you thought of the oiled silk, used for a thousand and one purposes? Or of the silk-gut we use near the hooks of our fish-lines?" "I fish with just a string," replied Pierre. Henri chuckled.
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